A Random 3am Catch-Up...

Hello!

First off, I'm getting kind of bored of that greeting... Anyone else feel the same way? Nope? Okay then. Just me.

Second of all, my foot really, really, really hurts. I tripped the other day and whatever I did it's now a not-so-beautiful array of colours - insert mental image of my pouting face and my poorly foot.

So... I haven't really decided what this blog post is about, I just really felt the need to write on this little space at 2:42am because why not?

I'm currently listening to my brothers 'Chilled Playlist' on Spotify and I'm strangely loving all of the oldies and slightly cheesy songs that are coming up; it's making me feel really home-y. It's just not having the chilled-sleep-inducing effect I was originally hoping for, instead it's making me ever so slightly nostalgic.

What else? As I mentioned, I've really hurt my foot - like a lot. I would love to tell you what I've done to it exactly but I actually have no clue. Zero. I tripped. And now it just really, freakin' hurts! (A cover of Hey Ya has just come on to my playlist (by some dude called Obadiah Parker) and it's strangely awesome...) I do have this brilliant pair of boots that I bought a couple of weeks ago from Topshop and thank god I did because they have been so good whilst I've had a sore foot - they're ankle boots but my foot hurts less when I'm wearing them; I'm sure my mum mentioned something about them being more supportive, or something like that. I can't remember entirely but they're really comfy and she told me to wear them - always take Mama's advice!

I've started dressing like an actual girl as of late too. As in, skirts and dresses and tights (which are the most awkward things to where ever. Seriously. Someone needs to make those things easier and comfier), it's quite the change for me but, not going to lie, I'm kind of liking it.

I've rekindled my love for fajitas since coming to uni. Random fact for you there.

I've also found that any and all writing inspiration seems to come to me at stupid 'o' clock in the morning, e.g. now.

I have read some incredible books lately! I definitely need to dedicate a few blog posts to them because they're the bomb.com... does anyone even say that anymore? It just came to me... 

Oooh! Another unfortunate incident of 'Katie's life' - I lost my railcard two weeks ago on my way back to my hometown after visiting my friend in Lancaster. I rang every company and station possible trying to find it and no one had it, so if the person who saw it and didn't hand it in is reading this 'You're a mean person." Yep. That's what I have to say to you. I was more unimpressed at the idea of having to pay £80 for a ticket home without my railcard. Luckily, my mum is quite the bargain hunter and found one for £25 but I didn't get into Nottingham till something like midnight. There's more though - I don't do anything by halves! I got back to uni and my key wouldn't unlock my door. So it had let me into the building, into my flat, but it wouldn't let me into my room. I was stood there like a numpty for ten minutes trying to make it work. It didn't. Of course. I had to ring security, who made me go to them so they could reset my key fob which, once I'd walked all the way back to my flat, also didn't work. I sounded like a right idiot when I had to ring security again and they had to come up and try and fix the door and let me in, with my suitcase, laptop bag, normal bag, everything at about half one in the morning. I was not impressed. They couldn't even fix it in the end, they just had to let me in and leave it at that. Like I said, I don't have the best luck in the world. 

I went to see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 yesterday (or the day before if we're going to go on technicalities of time and all that). It was extraordinary, obviously! I might do a blog post about that at some point too - it depends how much I decide I could write about without giving anything away.

I doubt there's much else you really want to know. Then again, I doubt you even wanted to know that, but hey! You got it! 

Feel free to have a good laugh at my constant bad luck - it amuses my family (and friends - definitely friends) no end! 

Hope everything's running as smoothly in everyone else's world as it is mine...

Katie x

Nottingham Christmas Light Switch On 2014!

Hello!

It was the Christmas Light Switch On here in Nottingham last Friday (21st November) and, although we got well and truly soaked, it was awesome sauce!

They have a little Winter Wonderland spread throughout the streets of the city centre and it all looks so pretty! It was unbelievably busy on Friday night so I didn't get the best look around at it but I've been since then to have a little nosy and there is so much delicious-smelling food everywhere, my mouth was watering the whole time I was walking around the market stalls. They have some lovely little unique stalls too with quirky things that would make great gifts, in my opinion. 

They had a fireworks display when the lights got turned on, leaving the sky a sparkly (and smoky) scene; it was beautiful.

My friend and I even went as far as going on the carousel... Yes, we are nearly twenty and it's perfectly okay to still want to go on the carousel! I got hot mini doughnuts too because who doesn't want hot mini doughnuts? They remind me of being by the seaside with my brother in Blackpool - we love our hot mini doughnuts, hence why I took pictures to taunt him with via Snapchat.

The tree in the centre is massive - something like 60 feet I think they said! Whatever the case, it's huge. And it's in the middle of an outdoor ice rink, in case I didn't mention that, not that I'll be going on the ice considering I can barely walk without falling over every five seconds, god knows what I'd be like on ice!

We had a great time anyway, even if we did get soaked - a message from my friend (who was more soaked than me by the end of the night, definitely an achievement): don't go out on a rainy night in a dress and tights and boots with holes in; it's never going to end well.

Katie x

Music Crush #13

Hello!

I have been looking forward to telling you about this song since I told you about the last one - that long!

For once, I have it all planned and I know exactly what song is getting this weeks Music Crush status...

He Is We

~~~

Prove You Wrong (Acoustic)

I love, love, LOVE this band! I'll get the bad news over with first though, unfortunately they're not a band anymore :'( However, they do have a lot of amazing music that they made before, so it's all good! 

I put the acoustic version of Prove You Wrong because I prefer acoustic versions of anything and everything but the studio version is just as good: I'm currently listening to it as I write this. They have the kind of music that I don't seem to get bored of, so it's constantly on a playlist somewhere but this one song seems to be on constant repeat at the moment, for some reason, and it's made me rekindle my love with it.

I don't know many people who have heard of He Is We, in fact I only know of one person and I met her this year - thank god I have someone who understands how brilliant they are now! I only found them because one of their songs, All About Us, was featured on The Mortal Instruments Soundtrack. The first time I heard them I couldn't believe no one had told me about them before. When I found out about them I wrote about them on the blog I wrote for at the time but I feel like I need to make sure everyone knows about how crazily good their music is, so here I am, telling you!

So take a listen to this song and then go on and find every other song of theirs (personally, Fall and Our July In the Rain (coincidentally this one just started playing; it's a sign if you ask me!) are another few favourites of mine... along with every other song they've done).

Katie x

Music Crush #12

Hello!

I'm back to struggling away with my indecisiveness, not knowing what songs to choose!

After a long debate, I've finally chosen though...

Dun, dun, duhhhn!

Imagine Dragons

~~~

Demons

I loved this song a few months ago and then I kind of forgot about it for a while and then my friend, who has a radio show on Bailrigg FM from 1 to 2pm on a Monday (if you want to check it out, then there's a cheeky, little plug!), played it on the show and I became obsessed again - so there's a long story as to how this became the Music Crush of this week!

The lyrics in this song are absolutely A-MAZ-ING but, rather unlike me, I'm not going to go on a ramble about how much I love certain lyrics because I love the whole song. Dan Reynolds, the lead vocalist in the band has an awesome voice too, he can reach notes that even I can't... Or not tunefully anyway...

I don't really know what else to say about this song, I think it's something you need to listen to yourself so you can fall head over heels with it!

Katie x

Completely unrelated side-note here (and the same one that was on my last blog post) but, if anyone could complete THIS survey for me that would be amazingly helpful - it's for a uni thing and I hope to get a placement at the end of it, so any and all feedback is welcome! It should only take you a couple of minutes. Thank youuuu! (Here's another link, in case the other one doesn't work :) https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CVG5YBB )

Snapchat's Issues

Hello!

I never used to be that into Snapchat. When it first came out, I got it because everyone said it was great but I didn't really get the allure to it so I gave up, keeping it just so I could receive other people's Snapchats. However, since coming back to uni, I have become a bit of a Snapchat addict - but only on a night out.

For those of you who don't know what Snapchat is (where have you been for the last two years?!), it's an app you can get on your phone, where you take a picture and you can send it to a friend for anything up to 10 seconds, then after that it's never to be seen again. They have a bit on it now called "My Story" too, which is what I make the most use of, anything you add to it will stay there for 24 hours then disappear, again never to be seen afterwards. 

Well this comes in very handy if you're going on a night out with your friends because, not only does it document your night to all of your other friends who aren't there, it allows you to look at all the photos you took the next day - including the really awful ones that you wish no one had ever seen. 

I have previously mentioned that I'm not much of a drinker when it comes to alcohol but that seems to have changed slightly this year. I still don't drink to the point where I can't remember anything or I start throwing up everywhere - I know my limits, don't worry! I definitely drink more this year though and sometimes you forget the little things in the moment. For example, one of the first nights my flatmates and I went out on in Refreshers Week, a random guy came up to us as we were trying to take a selfie and said he wanted to be in it - to get rid of him we took the selfie with him, posted it to Snapchat and that was that. The next morning, when we were looking through our stories, we found that picture and burst into laughter remembering it, because it was such a small moment we'd forgotten it even existed. 

But, as good as Snapchat is, there are still a few problems with it:

1.

Screenshot.

I mentioned earlier the picture can only be viewed for 10 seconds if you send it directly to the person, well that's true, unless they screenshot it. Yep, that's possible. The worst thing? I'm one of those people. I screenshot all of the disgusting-triple-chins-hilarious selfies that my best friend sends me because duh! So when anyone does it to me, I can't even complain at them.

2.

Butter Fingers.

The problem you come across not necessarily when you've had something alcoholic to drink, you just need to be clumsy like me, where you send the picture to the wrong person. I have done this too many times for it to be acceptable. The amount of ugly selfies my brother has accidentally received because my fingers have slipped at the last minute. It's a horrifying moment when you watch it send and know there's nothing you can do about it. My brother's the loving kind of person that will probably use it against me in years to come...

3.

Lighting.

The quality of Snapchat photos is not the best on a good day but when you're in a nightclub with flashing lights everywhere and it's a bit darker than your average room, it doesn't help. Needless to say, you're often left looking like a creepy stalker that's all dark in the back corner of the picture or you're bright white and every flaw you have is emphasised - this is usually what happens to all of mine. Just my luck.

So there are a few of Snapchats issues. Luckily, to help combat the last one, they do have two filters now. Two. Wow. But yeah. I have a love-hate relationship with Snapchat and I doubt that's going to change anytime soon.

Katie x 

Completely unrelated side-note here but, if anyone could complete THIS survey for me that would be amazingly helpful - it's for a uni thing and I hope to get a placement at the end of it, so any and all feedback is welcome! Thank youuuu! (Here's another link, in case the other one doesn't work :) https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CVG5YBB )

A Few Favourite Films!

Hello!

I am a complete movie-whore... That sounds weird. I mean in the sense that I have watched soooooo many movies and I watch them over and over and over again. And probably again.

Obviously, there are a lot of movies in the world but here are a few of my absolute favourites (at the moment - this list will have changed in a few weeks!)

1.

The Avengers

Marvel. Superheroes. Thor. That is literally everything I need to say about this movie. Seriously.

2.

Brave

It's set in Scotland and, with my Scottish heritage, there is nothing I don't love about this movie. Especially the triplets; they're so frickin' cute!

3.

21

There's something about this movie that completely boggles my brain but it intrigues me so much that I love it.

4.

John Tucker Must Die

Until I went back to university, I had never even heard of this movie, then some of my flatmates and I watched it and I was like "Oh. My. God. How have I never watched this before?!" It's so good!

5.

The Little Mermaid

Everyone needs Disney movies in their life and this is one of my all-time favourites (along with Brave)! Not going to lie though, Ursula used to terrify me when I was little... Not anymore though... Not a lot anyway.

6.

The Holiday

A lot of people will say that this is the first sign of me getting into the Christmas spirit but this is actually the one movie that is set at Christmas time and I don't class as a 'Christmas movie'. Although I do probably watch it more around this time of year - it's something about all the snow; trust me, England rarely looks like that in the winter!

So those are the movies I've wanted to watch a lot lately, like a lot a lot. I only put The Avengers down but it's actually anything Marvel that I'm obsessed with at the moment, or in general - there is never a bad time to watch a Marvel movie! It's the one thing my brother and I can watch together and not argue about!

Katie x

Another Music Crush (#11)!

Hello!

So I thought what better way to get back into the blogging flow than to do one of my favourite things - Music Crush!

I've been very sentimental with my music lately which has led to this song choice... Well, it's actually more of an artist choice because you have no idea how hard it was to pick just one song.

John Mayer

~~~

Free Fallin'

I have loved John Mayer's music for so long I can't even remember when I started listening to him, although I'm guessing it had a lot do with my brother considering he influenced (and still does) most of my music loves.

This is just the one song that I've been listening to mostly lately but it's not originally by John Mayer (I don't think), I'm pretty sure Tom Petty was the one to sing it first. I could recommend so many of this amazing guy's songs, like Neon, New Deep and Who Says and they're just a few! He also does an epic cover of Beyonce's XO, like seriously. Wow.

I love his voice in this song, it's live too so his voice sounds sincere and raw. His voice just fits unbelievably well to this song, but then again, he can pull anything off.

Enjoy!

Katie x